Destination: Take A Trip To Suburbia
- Hardcover: 384 pages
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster (August 25, 2015)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1501105434
- ISBN-13: 978-1501105432
Synopsis: In A Window Opens, beloved books editor at Glamour magazine, Elisabeth Egan, brings us Alice Pearse, a compulsively honest, longing-to-have-it-all, sandwich generation heroine for our social-media-obsessed, lean in (or opt out) age.
Like her fictional forebears Kate Reddy and Bridget Jones, Alice plays many roles (which she never refers to as “wearing many hats” and wishes you wouldn’t, either). She is a mostly-happily married mother of three, an attentive daughter, an ambivalent dog-owner, a part-time editor, a loyal neighbor and a Zen commuter. She is not: a cook, a craftswoman, a decorator, an active PTA member, a natural caretaker or the breadwinner. But when her husband makes a radical career change, Alice is ready to lean in—and she knows exactly how lucky she is to land a job at Scroll, a hip young start-up which promises to be the future of reading, with its chain of chic literary lounges and dedication to beloved classics. The Holy Grail of working mothers―an intellectually satisfying job and a happy personal life―seems suddenly within reach.
Despite the disapproval of her best friend, who owns the local bookstore, Alice is proud of her new “balancing act” (which is more like a three-ring circus) until her dad gets sick, her marriage flounders, her babysitter gets fed up, her kids start to grow up and her work takes an unexpected turn. Readers will cheer as Alice realizes the question is not whether it’s possible to have it all, but what does she―Alice Pearse―really want?
Review: What a fun read! I didn't want to put it down once I got started. Alice is a very realistically written wife and mother of three who finds her life turned upside down when her husband makes an impulsive and radical career change.
When Alice finds what seems to be the perfect full-time job, you would think the rest of the story would be happiness and roses. However, the roller-coaster ride is just beginning. Her father's cancer returns, her marriage has a variety of issues, her children start to object to her work schedule, her trusted babysitter is ready to move on, and her job becomes something far from what she signed on to do with the company.
There is a good deal of humor in the story, but it doesn't take away from the seriousness of the subject. The troubles are very real, and they aren't all neatly wrapped up by the end of the book. Some things take time to "fix," and there may not be an actual moment of solution.
I would highly recommend this to all mothers.
This book was given in exchange for an honest review, and all thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.
When Alice finds what seems to be the perfect full-time job, you would think the rest of the story would be happiness and roses. However, the roller-coaster ride is just beginning. Her father's cancer returns, her marriage has a variety of issues, her children start to object to her work schedule, her trusted babysitter is ready to move on, and her job becomes something far from what she signed on to do with the company.
There is a good deal of humor in the story, but it doesn't take away from the seriousness of the subject. The troubles are very real, and they aren't all neatly wrapped up by the end of the book. Some things take time to "fix," and there may not be an actual moment of solution.
I would highly recommend this to all mothers.
This book was given in exchange for an honest review, and all thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.
Rating: Five stars
About The Author
Elisabeth Egan is the books editor at Glamour. Her essays and book reviews have appeared in Self, Glamour, O, The Oprah Magazine, People, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, the Huffington Post, the New York Times Book Review, the Los Angeles Times Book Review, The Washington Post, the Chicago Sun-Times and The Newark Star-Ledger. She lives in New Jersey with her family.
1 comment:
LOVED this novel! Wish I could read it for the first time again!
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